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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Thanks to ESA for making my photo the "Arthropod of the week"!

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Entomological Society of America @entsocamerica.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Arthropod Photo of the Week: September 2, 2026 Crab spider and black swallowtail caterpillar Xysticus sp. / Papilio polyxenes Araneae: Thomisidae / Lepidoptera: Papilionidae Observed in Illinois, USA By Joseph Spencer (@talkingrootworm.bsky.social), Illinois, USA #arthropodPOTW

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

This is male #Polyphemus #moth, #Antheraea polyphemus (Family #Saturniidae). The feathery "plumose" #antennae are adapted for the detection of female #pheromone at low concentrations. If detected, males engage in upwind flight following the concentration gradient to the waiting female. #Lepidoptera

Head-on "face" view of a predominantly rusty-brown colored, male Polyphemus moth with large feathery antennae spread wide on either side of the head. The insect is resting on a tree branch that is speckled with patches of lichen.

Male Polyphemus moth with large feathery antennae and pinkish-brown wings with prominent eyespots on the fore- and hindwings, resting on a leafless tree branch

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

“Spy vs. Spy, Assassin #bug vs. Soldier bug" I didn’t see how one stealthy #predator caught the other, but the outcome was photogenic. Perhaps declining Autumn numbers of #caterpillars & other small prey make this inevitable? #Reduviidae #Podisus #Hemiptera [Champaign Co., Ill. USA. 14 Oct 2025]

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

“Girl with kaleidoscope eyes” #Coelioxys sp. #Cuckoo #leafcutter #bees parasitize the nests of leafcutter bees by invading & laying their eggs inside that will kill the leafcutter larvae & then eat their store of nectar & pollen. This female was chilling on an aster in my garden.

Big-eyed black bee with dark red legs, amber wings, white body stripes and other markings resting on a closed aster flower against a black background.

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

Red-headed beauty! I found this walking #stick #insect (#Orthonecrosia sp.) on at the Jungle Girl Entomology Camp at Trus Madi, Malaysia on Borneo in March 2025. Borneo is amazing, an island of wonder & stick insects! There are currently about 400 described Borneo species of stick insects.

Green-blue colored stick insect with a red head resting horizontally on a piece of bark-less wood in a forest against a black background.

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

“Who’s in charge now?” If asked, I’d affirm the wheel bug, #Arilus cristatus, as the top predator in my yard. A recent encounter w/ one of the many cross #orbweavers, #Neoscona crucifera, in my yard reminded me that the tables can, and do, turn. #Arachtober #spider #Reduviidae #Araneidae #arachnid

A large tan-colored, orb-weaving spider with red legs is struggling with a partially silk-wrapped wheel bug. They are dangling in a tattered web against a black background

A large tan-colored, orb-weaving spider with red legs is struggling with a partially silk-wrapped wheel bug. From this angle, the spider is almost completely eclipsed by the struggling wheel bug. They are dangling in a tattered web against a black background.

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

I've been following the "progress" of this little (<1 cm) #inchworm #caterpillar for a couple of days. It is wearing a trio of #ectoparasitic wasp larvae (in Family #Chalcididae). They're siphoning the caterpillar's blood & bodily fluids. It'll die soon & they will form pupae near the cadaver.

Brown inchworm caterpillar perched on a nearly vertical green leaf petiole against a black background. Three creamy orange parasitic wasp larvae, each approximately the size of the caterpillar's head, are attached to the caterpillar's back.

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

Three’s a crowd! The wheel bugs (#Arilus cristatus) in my garden seem confused about how many individuals are needed to start a family. They worked it out about an hour after my photos and the “third wheel” hit the road. #Reduviidae #AssassinBug [Champaign County, Illinois. USA. 19 September 2025]

An amorous trio of two males and 1 female gray-colored wheel bugs with red antennae and beaks hang together off of the left side of a brown and dried purple coneflower against a black background.

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

This afternoon, a group of #migrants on their way to Mexico stopped in my yard to grab a bite and rest. They are staying the night. I count 64 lodgers tonight. On Saturday evening, I had 142! #butterflies #monarchseason #monarch.

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

I returned home from work tonight to find a collection of #monarch butterfly wings within and beneath a blazing star plant next to my driveway. Then I noticed the culprit, a giant #Chinese #mantid! The mantid was caught for relocation...to a student insect collection! #invasive

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

Days like today, when the yard is full of butterflies, remind me why I planted and tend my gardens of prairie plants. [Champaign County, IL. 13 September 2025]

Orange, white and black monarch butterfly is perched on the top of a taco-shaped, purple blazing star flower with a small alfalfa butterfly lurking over the edge below. Image is set against a field of green foliage and out of focus grass stems.

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

Though they were vastly out-numbered by #monarchs, painted lady #butterflies, were still showing off as they completed for opportunities to sample the floral delights offered up by the Liatris blossoms. #Colias.

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

Days like today, when the yard is full of butterflies, remind me why I planted and tend my gardens of prairie plants. [Champaign County, IL. 13 September 2025]

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

"I'm an #inchworm caterpillar, but I identify as stick." When disturbed, some #Geometridae family #caterpillars will straighten out in a stick-like posture to avoid detection. It's an effective form of #crypsis even the color/texture doesn't match well. [Champaign County, IL. USA. 5 September 2025]

Tan-colored smooth caterpillar with a few bumps and dark specks gripped onto a vertical stem with its rear prolegs, extending out stick-like in a straight, rigid posture against a dark background.

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

Have you ever seen a #pelecinid #wasp? Well, you have now! Say "Hello" to #Pelecinus polyturator. Their larvae live as internal parasites of wood or ground dwelling scarab beetle larvae. Until 3 weeks ago, I'd only ever seen 1 individual. Since then, I've seen a dozen females.

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

That look! A #katydid leans in to ask, “I can’t hear you with all the tree-cricket racket, can you talk into my ear?” Conveniently, katydid #ears are located on their prothorasic legs, just below the "knee". Can you see them? #insect

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

Hanging around or hanging on! A nightwalk revealed #insects exploited by other #arthropods. Doomed big & little Paw Paw #sphinx #caterpillars parasitized by #braconid wasps, an #inchworm bearing more #wasp #cocoons, & a crane fly #Über allowing 2 #pseudoscorpions to hitch a ride (called #phoresy)

A luminous green caterpillar with a spiky tail horn is covered with the cocoons of parasitic wasps that have fed internally before emerging and spilling a cocoon attached to their host's back. Openings near the tops of the cocoons reveal that the adult wasps have emerged.

A brown inchworm caterpillar grips a leaf with its rear legs while a silken thread supports the head as it hangs upside-down. Half-a-dozen parasitic wasp cocoons dangle from the back of the caterpillar.

A crane fly with banded brown/tan banded legs and a yellow abdomen dangles from the leaf of a forest plant. Pseudoscorpions are attached near a joint on one meso- and one metathorasic leg. They use the fly to harmlessly carry them over the landscape (this phenomenon is called Phoresy).

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

Singularly fantastic & uncommon #arachnid. #Orsima ichneumon, the kaleidoscope #ant #mimic #spider #Salticidae, is found in SE Asia. This female was shadowing an ant while patrolling a leaf @ Trus Madi Jungle Girl Entomology Camp. #Sabah #Borneo. It has fewer than 50 records at #iNaturalist

Stout-bodied multicolored jumping spider with an abdominal constriction and elongate spinnerets that resemble the head and thorax of an ant or wasp. It rests on a green leaf surface marked with some silk this individual was spreading the surface.

Stout-bodied multicolored jumping spider staring up and to the left of the viewer exposing ruby-red chelicerae. This species has an abdominal constriction and elongate spinnerets that resemble the head and thorax of an ant or wasp. It rests near the edge of a green leaf surface.

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

"Move along. Nothing to see here. Just a leaf." Checkered-fringe #prominent #caterpillars (#Schizura unicornis, Family #Notodontidae) tuck themselves into the gaps they create while feeding to disguise interrupted leaf outlines that might give them away to a predator.

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

If you have Paw Paw trees, it's likely a good time to see caterpillars of the Pawpaw Sphinx Moth - Dolba hyloeus. I saw ≥30 at various developmental stages last night (8/15) in an east-central Illinois forest. Two weeks ago they were only 1/2 as abundant.

Green caterpillar bearing six diagonal white and dark stripes, the final posterior strips seems to continue and culminate in a bluish-green "horn". The caterpillar is hanging from the underside of a Paw Paw leaf.

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

“Don’t go far!” Tiny, newly-emerged nymphs of the green stinkbug (Acrosternum hilare) congregate next to their eggs. They will soon disperse and begin to feed. There are 5 immature stages before becoming winged adults.

Newly-emerged orange and black stink bugs clustered tightly together next to their empty barrel-shaped, white eggs on a green leaf.

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

#Spider #mating or a midnight snack? There's both a male & a female orbweaver (perhaps #Neoscona crucifera) in there. I think it's more #marriage than mealtime mayhem as they were suspended from a single silken strand.

Male and female orbweaver spiders with brown/orange bodies covered with a fringe of spiky hairs embrace while hanging from a single silken strand against a dark background.

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

#Predator & Emperor of my garden, #Arilus cristatus, the wheel bug (Family #Reduviidae), prowls the vegetation looking for a meal!

Large gray wheel bug perched on a goldenrod stem with its red antennae extended outward to the left. A cog-like extension rises from thorax, this wheel is the source of the common name.

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

#Predator & Emperor of my garden, #Arilus cristatus, the wheel bug (Family #Reduviidae), prowls the vegetation looking for a meal!

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

A dark morph of the #tiger #swallowtail, #Papilio #glaucus, was also nectaring on whorled #milkweed. I snapped photos of the top & underside of the wings. [Champaign County, Illinois, USA. 9 August 2025]

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

Coming in for a landing! Black #swallowtail #butterflies, #Papilio #polyxenes, approaching & landing to nectar on whorled #milkweed, #Asclepias verticillate, in central #Illinois, #USA

Butterfly in flight above whorled milkweed plants with black forewings marked on the underside with one row each of yellow triangles and circles near the trailing wing margin. The hind wing also bears two parallel rows of yellow marks, but with intervening blue polygons and conspicuious tails. The body is also black with yellow spots along the side of the abdomen.

Butterfly in flight approaching a whorled milkweed plant in bloom with black forewings marked on the underside with one row each of yellow triangles and circles near the trailing wing margin. The hind wing also bears two parallel rows of yellow marks, but with intervening blue polygons and conspicuious tails. The body is also black with yellow spots along the side of the abdomen.

Butterfly in flight just before contacting a whorled milkweed plant with black forewings marked on the underside with one row each of yellow triangles and circles near the trailing wing margin. The hind wing also bears two parallel rows of yellow marks, but with intervening blue polygons and conspicuious tails. The body is also black with yellow spots along the side of the abdomen.

Butterfly resting on a whorled milkweed plant with black forewings marked on the underside with one row each of yellow triangles and circles near the trailing wing margin. The hind wing also bears two parallel rows of yellow marks, but with intervening blue polygons and conspicuious tails. The body is also black with yellow spots along the side of the abdomen.

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

Coming in for a landing! Black #swallowtail #butterflies, #Papilio #polyxenes, approaching & landing to nectar on whorled #milkweed, #Asclepias verticillate, in central #Illinois, #USA

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

In the last fews days, my yard & the east-central Illinois area has been invaded by 100's of Hypena scabra, green cloverworm moths. They primarily feed on legumes including clover, alfalfa, soybeans, & garden beans. I suspect they're splatting my car when I drive through the area in the evening.

Brownish-orange moth with bulging dark-ruby colored eyes and prominent scaly legs resting vertically on the leaf of a goldenrod plant against a dark background.

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

These boy bees are catching ZZZs! Melissodes bimaculata is in the same family as the honeybee, Apidae. The males roost together overnight on vegetation, while females stay in their individual nest holes in the ground.

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

Dinner for two! A pair of #Podisus stink bugs sharing a Virginia #ctenucha (Ctenucha virginica) is my favorite stink #bug #predation image. This gristly tableau yielded a number of photos because the evenly-matched bugs were doing a little “tug-of-war” over their shared #moth feast.

A pair of brown-and-tan speckledPodisus stink bugs simultaneously feeding on the same Virginia #ctenucha (Ctenucha virginica) moth near the edge of a green leaf.

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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 20/07/2025

I think you hunt #ants! Every time I find this jumping #spider, #Tutelina elegans, with prey, it is an ant they are clutching. This adorable species is commonly found prowling among my milkweed plants & purple coneflowers. #Salticidae

Jumping spider with shimmering bronze abdomen, reflective yellow legs and palps, and dark attentive eyes looks past the viewer to left from its perch on a milkweed leaf.

Jumping spider with shimmering bronze abdomen, reflective yellow legs, & a matching shiny cephalothorax grasping its prey, a red-brown ant. The interaction is happening as the spider navigates the vertical portion of an upturned milkweed leaf.

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